Chapter 17: Misty Cloud Pavilion
Misty Cloud Pavilion was the largest auction hall within the Great Zhou Empire. There were branches in all of the nine prefectures and twenty seven counties of the Great Zhou Empire. And their backer was none other than the Emperor's wife, Emperess Yue.
Being the wife of the Emperor, as well as having the tremendous influence of her clan, the Tang Clan behind her, naturally no one would dare to offend her when she had such a background.
Maybe in some of the larger prefecture cities or the imperial capital there might be some powers that were able to go against the Tang Clan and be daring enough to open auction houses. However, in this insignificant Green Leaf City, no one would dare to slight them by opening a second auction house.
Misty Cloud Pavilion was Luo Cheng's current destination. If he wanted to earn some quick wads of spirit stones without exposing his identity as an alchemist to the Leng Mansion, he could only rely on the Blood Qi Pills he had refined in his room the previous night.
After he adjusted the cloak on his body, and saw the lavish signboard of Misty Cloud Pavilion, a smile played at Luo Cheng's lips under the shadow of his cowl as he slowly walked towards Misty Cloud Pavilion.
Under the vigilant glances by the fully armored guards, Luo Cheng walked into the auction house without stopping. As soon as Luo Cheng entered the Misty Cloud Pavilion, the scorching feeling from the sun was replaced with a cool feeling. It made people feel as if they had stepped into a new world.
Due to the fact that there were fewer people here, Green Leaf City's Misty Cloud Pavilion would only hold a small-scale auction once every month, a medium-scale auction every three months, and a large-scale auction once a year. When the time came for the large-scale auction, Green Leaf City would enter its most busy, bustling state.
Looking at the calendar, it was almost the end of the month. There were a lot of people looking at the goods in the great hall of the first floor. Undoubtedly, these people were not of high status in Green Leaf City. Amongst them, there were many from the mid level clans of Leng Prefecture. Luo Cheng also noticed some familiar faces in the first floor.
Sweeping through the fancy hall, Luo Cheng quickly found a side room. On the door which led to the room were the shiny words "Inspection Room." Walking inside, the room was quite empty and only a middle aged man who was obviously bored sat there. Hearing the door open, the man raised his head and upon seeing the black robed Luo Cheng, his brow slightly furrowed. But immediately, the expression on his face changed to a professional smile. "Sir, do you plan on having something inspected?"
"Yes." Under the black robe, Luo Cheng spoke in a dry and old voice. Luo Cheng walked up and placed the White Jade bottle on the desk in front of the middle aged man.
"This is?" Looking confused, the middle aged man carefully picked up the White Jade bottle and sniffed it. The expression on his face immediately changed and when he looked back at the black robed figure, his gaze had a hint of respect."Mister, you're an Alchemist?"
"Yes." The aged voice came out again.
"Could I ask, what... pills are within this bottle? What does it do?" Hearing that he was dealing with an alchemist, the middle aged man asked with even more respect.
"Blood Qi Pills : It can purify the bloodline and also has a chance of upgrading the level of the bloodline, but only effective for the Mortal Qi Bloodline and the Silver Bloodline." Luo Cheng calmly answered.
"What!? It can upgrade the level of a bloodline!?" Hearing Luo Cheng's words, the expression on the middle aged man changed.
Everyone knew that bloodlines could only be strengthened by the use of extremely rare heavenly herbs and couldn't be upgraded. Whatever bloodline level one had upon birth stayed that way forever. Even if this pills actually work, they would have extremely dire side effects
"My Pills doesn't have any side effects and the medicinal power is extremely peaceful so it won't cause something like that to happen. You don't need to worry about that happening." As if he could understand what the middle aged man was thinking, Luo Cheng's aged voice voice calmly explained.
His expression changing once more, the middle aged man carefully placed the White Jade bottle on the table in front of him and respectfully asked, "Mister, could you wait for a second? I need to ask our auction's Alchemist to inspect this pills!"
"Sure, hurry up." Waving his hand, Luo Cheng did not pretend to be polite and sat in a chair to the side. The middle aged man quickly nodded and hurriedly left the room.
Sitting on the chair, Luo Cheng remained silent and didn't to speak, he could feel powerful auras lingering at different parts of the Misty Cloud Pavilion.
After waiting in the room for a little while, the middle aged man returned with a green robed elder who had slightly whitened hair. On the chest of the elder was something like an Alchemy Cauldron and on the Alchemy Cauldron were three silver lines sparkling with elegance.
"Mister, this is our auction's Alchemist, Tang Shu. He's a Golden Core Realm cultivator! At the same time, he's also a rank three Alchemist!" The middle aged man respectfully introduced the newcomer.
Hearing the identity of the elder, Luo Cheng's brow instinctively jumped. From the memories of the previous Luo Cheng, he knew this Alchemist Tang Shu was a member of the Tang Clan in the imperial city. He is also one of the best rank three Alchemist in the Leng Prefecture.
He carefully re-examined the elder. The elder had a pale face and even though the green robe seemed ordinary, there were slivers of light surging across it. Obviously, this robe had some kind of a defensive rune implanted into it. On the elder's common place face was an ever present arrogance, something that all Alchemists had.
While Luo Cheng was examining Alchemist Shu, Alchemist Shu was also studying the person in front of him. Alchemists weren't like Cultivators and Alchemists were highly sought after by various forces. Therefore, when Alchemist Shu was studying Luo Cheng, he was also trying to guess who the Alchemist was.
The middle aged man carefully picked up the Jade bottle on the table and passed it to Alchemist Shu...
Taking the White Jade bottle, Alchemist Shu first sniffed the sweet fragrance while his old eyes closed slightly. Lightly tipping the bottle, a Blood Qi Pill slowly rolled from the opening of the bottle to land in the middle of Alchemist Shu's palm.
Staring at the Blood Qi Pill, Alchemist Shu whipped out a silver needle and on the tip of the needle showed a slight Qi fluctuation. It quietly slipped into the Blood Qi Pill and slowly circulated...
With the circulation of Qi at the tip of the needle, Alchemist Shu's calm face changed into a serious expression. Moments later, he placed the Blood Qi Pill back into the jade bottle. When he looked at Luo Cheng again, his arrogant face had a hint of respect.
Turning towards the middle aged man, he said, "These are level 3 pills. Everything that was said before is true!"
Hearing that, the middle aged man let out a relieved breath and excitedly smiled at Luo Cheng. "Mister, do you plan on auctioning this Alchemy Pills?"
"Yup, can you auction it as soon as possible?" Asked Luo Cheng
"Hehe, that's no problem. Mister, take this and go to the first auction room. Luckily, we're having an auction there right now and your Pills will be auctioned immediately!" The middle aged man smiled while handing over a pitch black metal card.
"Okay."Taking the metal card, Luo Cheng didn't wait and left the room immediately.
"Master Shu, is he really an Alchemist?" Only after Luo Cheng had left their sight did the middle aged man whispered quietly to Alchemist Shu.
"Yes, he's an Alchemist. His agile Spiritual Awareness, can't be wrong..." Alchemist Shu nodded but his brow was furrowed and he muttered, "But where did he come from? I haven't heard of any Alchemist that can refine pills to purify bloodlines in Leng Prefecture."
"Shall l do some research?" Asked the middle aged man.
Alchemist Shu paused before shaking his head:"Not now. All alchemists have weird tempers and if he notices you trying to dig up his history, he'll have a bad impression of the Misty Cloud Pavilion. To be on the bad side of a mysterious Alchemist is never a smart move."
Turning around, Alchemist Shu lightly said, "For him to have a good impression of our Misty Cloud Pavilion, you should know how to do that right?"
"Hehe, I understand." The middle aged man answer with a smile.
"Remember, even if we can't become friends with him, we can't offend him either. Or else..." Leaving behind a couple of cold words, Alchemist Shu also left the room.